Published by an old curmudgeon who came to America in 1936 as a refugee from Nazi Germany and proudly served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He is a former law enforcement officer and a retired professor of criminal justice who, in 1970, founded the Texas Narcotic Officers Association. BarkGrowlBite refuses to be politically correct.
(Copyrighted articles are reproduced in accordance with the copyright laws of the U.S. Code, Title 17, Section 107.)

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

The owner was never notified by the DEA that it was using his truck to haul pot; the sting went bad during a hijacking attempt in which the DEA-paid driver was shot dead

On November 21, 2011, the owner of a small North Texas trucking company thought his Truck 793 - a big red Kenworth T600 semi – was being repaired in Houston. Unknown to Craig Patty, the owner of the $90,000 rig, the DEA was using it to transport a load of marijuana in a sting operation.

The DEA had paid Lawrence Chapa, one of Patty’s drivers, to haul a load of marijuana from the Mexican border in an undercover operation designed to identify and put large scale traffickers out of business. The DEA never notified Patty that it was using his rig. Since it did not have the owner’s permission to use the semi, the DEA did in effect steal his truck.

To make matters worse, something went terribly wrong with the sting. On that November morning, a gang of men tried to hijack the truck and its load of marijuana near Houston. Chapa was shot dead in front of more than a dozen surprised law enforcement officers from several different agencies. In the ensuing gunfight, a Houston cop inadvertently shot a Harris County sheriff’s deputy. The truck was left riddled with bullet holes and was out of operation for 100 days.

Patty was the small business owner of a two-truck operation that hauled sand for use in hydraulic fracturing operations by oil and gas companies. The unauthorized use of his rig and the temporary loss of one of his two trucks nearly cost Patty his business. His insurance company refused to pay for the damages because the truck was being used in a law enforcement operation. Patty had to dig deeply into his savings to repair the truck so he could stay in business.

Now, some eight months later, Patty’s efforts to be compensated for the damage to his rig and business continue to be stonewalled by the DEA. The Houston Chronicle reports that ‘he is demanding that the DEA pay $133,532 in repairs and lost wages over the bullet-sprayed truck, and $1.3 million more for the damage to himself and his family, who fear retaliation by a drug cartel over the bungled narcotics sting.’

Patty asks, "How am I — a small businessman, father of three, American Joe from Texas — supposed to make a claim against a federal agency that has conveniently shrouded itself behind a red, white and blue cloak of confidentiality and secrecy?"

That is a good question. But don't expect an answer from Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano or Attorney General Eric Holder.

George Will says a California case of whale harassment provides an illustration of how federal law enforcement has spun out of control.

LET’S PUT A SHORT LEASH ON OUR BIG GOVERNMENT
By George Will

Houston Chronicle
July 29, 2012

SAN FRANCISCO - The huge humpback whale whose friendliness precipitated a surreal seven-year federal hunt for criminality surely did not feel put upon. Nevertheless, our unhinged government, with an obsession like that of Melville's Ahab, has crippled Nancy Black's scientific career, cost her more than $100,000 in legal fees and might sentence her to 20 years in prison. This Kafkaesque burlesque of law enforcement began when someone whistled.

Black, 50, a marine biologist who also captains a whale watching ship, was in Monterey Bay in 2005 when a member of her crew whistled at the humpback that had approached her boat, hoping to entice the whale to linger. Back on land, another of her employees called the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to ask if the whistling constituted "harassment" of a marine mammal, which is an "environmental crime." NOAA requested a video of the episode, which Black sent after editing it slightly to highlight the whistling. NOAA found no harassment - but got her indicted for editing the tape, calling this a "material false statement" to federal investigators, which is a felony under the 1863 False Claims Act intended to punish suppliers defrauding the government during the Civil War.

A year after this bizarre charge - that she lied about the interaction with the humpback that produced no charges - more than a dozen federal agents, led by one from NOAA, raided her home. They removed her scientific photos, business files and computers.

She has also been charged with the crime of feeding killer whales when she and two aides were in a dinghy observing them feeding on strips of blubber torn from their prey - a gray whale. To facilitate photographing the killers' feeding habits, she cut a hole in one of the floating slabs of blubber, and through the hole attached a rope to stabilize the slab while a camera on a pole recorded the whales' underwater eating.

So she is charged with "feeding" killer whales who were already feeding on a gray whale they had killed. She could more plausibly be accused of interfering with the feeding.

Never mind. This pursuit of Black seems to have become a matter of institutional momentum, an agent-driven case.

Six years ago, NOAA agents, who evidently consider the First Amendment a dispensable nuisance, told Black's scientific colleagues not to talk to her, and to inform them if they were contacted by her or her lawyers. Since then she has not spoken with one of her best friends.

To finance her defense she has cashed out her life's savings, which otherwise might have purchased a bigger boat. The government probably has spent millions. It delivered an administrative subpoena to her accountant, although no charge against her has anything to do with finances.

In 1980, federal statutes specified 3,000 criminal offenses; by 2007, 4,450. They continue to multiply. Often, as in Black's case, they are untethered from the common law tradition of mens rea, which holds that a crime must involve a criminal intent - a guilty mind. Government lawyers inundate targets like Black with discovery demands, producing financial burdens that compel the innocent to surrender in order to survive.

The protracted and pointless tormenting of Black illustrates the thesis of Harvey Silverglate's invaluable 2009 book "Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent." Silverglate, a lawyer in Boston, chillingly demonstrates how the mad proliferation of federal criminal laws - which often are too vague to give fair notice of what behavior is proscribed or prescribed - means that "our normal daily activities expose us to potential prosecution at the whim of a government official." Such laws, which enable government zealots to accuse almost anyone of committing three felonies in a day, do not just enable government misconduct, they incite prosecutors to intimidate decent people who never had culpable intentions. And to inflict punishments without crimes.

By showing that Kafka was a realist, Black's misfortune may improve the nation: The more Americans learn about their government's abuse of criminal law for capricious bullying, the more likely they are to recoil in a libertarian direction and put Leviathan on a short leash.

Romney infuriated the Palestinians by declaring that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel

Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian Authority’s chief negotiator and top aide to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, reacted to Romney’s declaration by saying, "Yesterday, he destroyed negotiations by saying Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.”

The peace process was destroyed long ago when, after returning to Ramallah, Yaser Arafat changed his mind and decided not to accept the 1993 Oslo Accords. Abbas, his successor, has consistently followed in Arafat’s footsteps by finding one excuse after another for not reaching a peace agreement.

ROMNEY DECLARES JERUSALEM AS ISRAEL’S CAPITAL

arab news
July 30, 2012

JERUSALEM: US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Sunday declared Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state and told an Israeli audience that the United States has “a solemn duty and a moral imperative” to block Iran from achieving nuclear weapons capability.

In an apparent endorsement of a position held by the Jewish state but never accepted by the international community, Romney said: “It is a deeply moving experience to be in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked him for his remarks, later telling him: “I want to thank you for those very strong words of support and friendship for Israel and for Jerusalem that we heard today.

“Jerusalem today is marking the destruction of the city thousands of years ago. As you see it’s been rebuilt by the Jewish people, open to all the three great faiths, vibrant, bustling,” he said, shortly after the end of Tisha B’Av, when Jews traditionally fast to mourn the destruction of the two Jewish Temples.

“And as you said, Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, and Jerusalem will always be the capital of Israel,” he said in remarks communicated by his office.

The status of Jerusalem is one of the most contentious issues of the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel, which occupied the largely Arab eastern sector during the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it, claims both halves of the city to be its “eternal and undivided capital.”

But the Palestinians want the eastern sector as capital of their promised state and fiercely oppose any Israeli attempt to extend sovereignty there.

Most of the international community, including the United States, does not formally recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital due to the ongoing conflict with the Palestinians, insisting the issue can only be resolved through final status negotiations.

All foreign embassies are located in Tel Aviv with consular representation in Jerusalem.

In 1995, the US Congress passed the so-called Jerusalem Embassy Act recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and stating that the US embassy should be moved there.

But an inbuilt waiver, which allowed the president to temporarily postpone the move on grounds of “national security” has been repeatedly invoked by successive US presidents, from Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barak Obama, meaning the law has never taken effect.

Almost four years ago, in August 2008 — some three months before the US presidential election — Obama, then a Democratic hopeful, made a similar statement about Jerusalem.

“Jerusalem will be the capital of Israel. I have said that before and I will say that again,” Obama said on a tour of the southern Israeli town of Sderot, making clear that the status of the city was “a final status issue.”

‘The American Southwest seems to be slowly returning to the jurisdiction of Mexico without firing a single shot’

All you ‘Whites’ better learn to speak Spanish pronto! Here are some statements made over the years that should alarm every American that is not a Mexican.

Augustin Cebada, Brown Berets: "Go back to Boston ! Go back to Plymouth Rock, Pilgrims! Get out! We are the future. You are old and tired. Go on. We have beaten you. Leave like beaten rats. You old white people. It is your duty to die. Through love of having children, we are going to take over.

Richard Alatorre, Los Angeles City Council: "They're afraid we're going to take over the governmental institutions and other institutions. They're right. We will take them over . . . We are here to stay."

Excelsior, the national newspaper of Mexico: "The American Southwest seems to be slowly returning to the jurisdiction of Mexico without firing a single shot."

Professor Jose Angel Gutierrez, University of Texas: "We have an aging white America . They are not making babies. They are dying. The explosion is in our population . . . I love it. They are shitting in their pants with fear. I love it."

Art Torres, Chairman of the California Democratic Party: "Remember 187--proposition to deny taxpayer funds for services to non-citizens—was the last gasp of white America in California ."

Gloria Molina, Los Angeles County Supervisor: "We are politicizing every single one of these new citizens that are becoming citizens of this country. . ... I gotta tell you that a lot of people are saying, "I'm going to go out there and vote because I want to pay them back."

Mario Obledo, California Coalition of Hispanic Organizations and former California State Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare under Governor Jerry Brown, also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton: "California is going to be a Hispanic state. Anyone who doesn't like it should leave."

Monday, July 30, 2012

An Israeli attack on Iran would have consequences regardless of whether it was successful or not – Iranian retaliatory strikes, the price of oil, the world economy and the stock market. An attack before November would play a decisive role in the presidential election depending on how Obama was judged in the way his administration dealt with the consequential crisis.

REPORT: US SEES ISRAELI STRIKE ON IRAN IN OCTOBER
By Ryan Jones

Israel Today
July 29, 2012

A senior and widely respected analyst with Israel's Channel 2 News said in Friday's pre-Shabbat newscast that top American officials have become convinced that Israel will launch a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities in October, just one month before the US presidential election.

Ehud Yaari had just returned from a trip to Washington, where he told viewers that he had met with "the people one needs to talk with about this matter," and that "my impression is that the Americans are convinced that there is very high chance that Israel will decide to attack in Iran before the elections in the US."

According to Yaari, American officials see an Israeli strike on Iran as almost a foregone conclusion, and are focusing on their response to the possible outcomes of such an action.

Israel's Ha'aretz daily newspaper reported on Sunday that the Obama Administration had recently briefed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on its own back-up plan to bomb Iran should ongoing international diplomatic efforts fail.

An unnamed American official cited by the newspaper suggested that the Obama White House was increasingly seeing the futility of the diplomatic tug-of-war between Iran and the international community, and was working feverishly to put together a viable attack plan.

That source said that Netanyahu had received a detailed overview of the developing American attack plan and the weapons that would be brought to bear on Iran's nuclear facilities should it be enacted.

Last week, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak stated that as much as both Israel and the US may want to avoid striking Iran, attacking its nuclear program now would be far less costly and deadly than dealing with a nuclear-armed Iran in the future.

"It is perfectly clear to me that dealing with this challenge when it matures, if it matures, will be inestimably more complex, inestimably more dangerous and inestimably more costly in human life and resources," Barak said during a ceremony for the graduating class of Israel's National Defense College.

Responding to a question about whether President Barack Obama will do as well with Jewish voters this time around, Pelosi said, according to a transcript from the “Political Capital” show, “I think that he will, because the fact is when the facts get out. You know, as many of the Republicans are using Israel as an excuse, what they really want are tax cuts for the wealthy. So Israel, that can be one reason they put forth.

Host Al Hunt then said, “That’s why some of the Republican Jewish supporters are really active.”

To which Pelosi responded: “Well, that’s how they’re being exploited. And they’re smart people. They follow these issues. But they have to know the facts. And the fact is that President Obama has been the strongest person in terms of sanctions on Iran, which is important to Israel. He’s been the strongest person on whether it’s Iron Dome, David’s Sling, any of these weapons systems and initiatives that relate to Israel. He has been there over and over again.”

The remarks left Cantor and other Republicans fuming.

"It is both patronizing and deeply insulting for Nancy Pelosi to suggest any Jew is 'exploited' for their political beliefs or that support for Israel is somehow an 'excuse' for anything,” Cantor said, according to the Weekly Standard. “Such thinking diminishes the importance of issues affecting Jews everywhere."

Matt Brooks of the Republican Jewish Coalition, told the Washington Post,“The one thing I can agree with Nancy Pelosi on is that Jewish Republicans are ‘smart people,’” Brooks said. “We’re smart enough to know that when it comes to Israel we can do a lot better than Barack Obama. Obama has publicly called for ‘daylight’ between the US and Israel, called for Israel to return to the indefensible ‘67 lines as a precondition for peace talks, and condemned Israel for building in . . . Jerusalem.”

Brooks went on to say, according to the Post, “So, sadly, while I appreciate Pelosi saying Jewish Republicans are smart, we most certainly are not being ‘exploited.’ Given the facts and I only wish that when it comes to Israel Nancy Pelosi and other defenders of Obama’s failed Israel policies were as smart as us Jewish Republicans.”

The following message from a Catholic Nun was sent to me by Audrey Flowers, a businesswoman and one of my former students.

When I was a California parole agent, my experiences with the Catholic Church was more positive than that with Protestant denominations. Every so often, I would have a parolee in desperate need of some assistance. Even the parolees that were not Catholic were never turned down by local parish priests. That was not the case with Protestant churches, most of which refused to offer any help when the parolees where not members of their congregations.

TO MY FELLOW CATHOLICS:

We are members of the oldest Christian religion in the world…The Catholic Church was founded in the year 33 by our Lord Jesus Christ. We have the real body and blood of Christ in our communion.

The next oldest Christian Church is the Lutherans and they have only been around for about 500 years. The Mormons have only been here since 1829.

In the year 33 there were no hospitals. Today, one out of five people in this country receive their medical care at a Catholic hospital. In the year 33 there were no schools.

Today, the Catholic Church teaches 3 million students a day, in its more than 250 Catholic Colleges and Universities, in its more than 1200 Catholic High Schools and its more than 5000 Catholic grade schools.

Every day, the Catholic Church feeds, cloths, shelters and educates more people than any other organization in the world. We should all be proud to be Catholic.

There are more than 77 million Catholics in this country. It takes an estimated 50 million votes to be elected president. I hope all of you will go to the polls and vote for a president that will respect OUR religion AND the religion of all citizens of the United States!

CNN's Donna Brazile, an ardent Obama supporter, was defending the President’s ‘You Didn't Build That [Business]’ speech during a panel discussion on ABC's This Week, when conservative columnist George Will responded by saying:

“I have a question for my friend, Donna. This president is….. We're told that the president is the brightest president since Madison, the best educated president since John Quincy Adams, and the most articulate president -- politician since Pericles. Why does he spend so much time explaining what he actually meant?”

Sunday, July 29, 2012

What at first sight appears to be a no-brainer is no slam-dunk; poster boy for the death penalty – yes, but…

With weeks, if not months, of planning the attack that killed 12 theater goers and wounded 58 others, I do not see how an insanity plea by James Holmes can fly. Nutcase or not, if I were the prosecutor I would not hesitate to seek the death penalty. If a jury decided otherwise, that’s just the way the cookie crumbles.

QUESTION OF DEATH PENALTY WEIGHS HEAVILY OVER ‘DARK KNIGHT’ KILLINGS
With a district attorney’s seat up for grabs, the ‘Dark Knight’ case begins a multi-year legal saga

By Jon Schuppe

NBCDFW.com
July 26, 2012

If alleged "Dark Knight" killer James Holmes faces the death penalty, it could become the largest and most complex case ever undertaken by Colorado’s criminal justice system -- and it’s not even clear who’s going to be running it.

The woman in charge right now is Carol Chambers, arguably the state’s toughest district attorney, with a long, contentious record of trying to send murderers to execution. But term limits will force her out of office in January, long before the Holmes case clears preliminary phases. She will be replaced by one of two men who are running for election in November. Neither of them currently works as a prosecutor.

Whoever wins will be thrust into a case that could consume the 18th Judicial District’s operations for years to come, particularly if the new DA pursues capital punishment for Holmes — a painstaking, politically fraught decision that requires a careful weighing of legal strategy and the wishes of victims’ families.

“This case is going to go very slowly through the system, and it’s going to be a very long time before a decision is made in regard to the death penalty,” said Karen Steinhauser, a former Denver prosecutor who now is a criminal defense attorney. "A good possibility is that it won’t be the current DA who makes that decision."

"I think the case will be an issue in the election – who’s got the experience in terms of understanding all the issues involved in the case," she added. "It’s going to be a huge management of resources issue. Because a death penalty case straps a district attorney’s office.”

The candidates – Republican George Brauchler and Democrat Ethan Feldman – have not given any public statements on the Holmes case.

Chambers hasn’t indicated whether she favors the death penalty against Holmes. But she is widely presumed to support it. She is the only district attorney to have pursued capital punishment in the last five years, including cases against two of the three men who now occupy Colorado’s death row. Both men were held responsible for killing a young couple who witnessed a murder – horrific crimes, but nowhere near the level of what James Holmes is accused of doing.

The third death row inmate, Nathan Dunlap, was convicted of shooting to death four people at an Aurora Chuck E. Cheese's restaurant in 1996.

The case against Holmes is forcing Colorado to confront its ambivalent relationship with the death penalty. The state has not executed anyone since Gary Lee Davis in 1997. In 2009, the state legislature came within one vote of repealing the death penalty.

"This is a state that you could say is conflicted about this," Denver University law professor Sam Kamin said.

The biggest legal obstacle to pursuing the death penalty against Holmes is his mental state. For the next few months, psychiatrists, lawyers, judges and others will debate whether Holmes, 24, understands the charges against him, if he can help his attorneys defend him and if he knew right from wrong when he allegedly stormed into a packed midnight Aug. 20 showing of “The Dark Knight Rises” and opened fire with an array of assault-style weapons while wearing body armor.

Twelve people were killed and 58 injured in the attack, and police said they disabled a booby-trapped apartment that Holmes left behind. Holmes, who authorities said told them he was Batman's nemesis the "Joker," appeared listless at his first court appearance earlier this week. The former doctoral student is expected to be formally charged on Monday.

Even if Holmes is deemed fit to stand trial, and is convicted, it could be difficult for a jury to agree to send a mentally ill man to death row, legal experts say.

Steinhauser saw that in the one capital case she pursued during her tenure at the Denver District Attorney's office. It was against a prison inmate who killed a deputy sheriff while getting treated in a hospital. Because the inmate was already serving a life sentence for a prior crime, prosecutors sought the death penalty. But a jury could not agree, and he got another life sentence instead.

"A big part of that was his psychiatric problems," Steinhauser said. "He raped kids and assaulted police officers, but he also had this horrendous psychiatric history and I think there was sympathy (from the jury)."

David Lane, a criminal defense lawyer who has represented dozens of people facing the death penalty, said that based on what he had read and seen, Holmes appears to be suffering from some kind of untreated mental illness. If that turns out to be true, the district attorney's office may decide it doesn't have a strong enough case for execution.

“Everyone says the death penalty is a foregone conclusion, but it’s not,” Lane said.

Just as difficult as the legal considerations is balancing what’s best for the victims and their families. Prosecutors are required to take what they want into account, but even if there were a consensus among victims, prosecutors are not obligated to follow it.

The crucial question is whether the death penalty is the best path to justice.

“For the victims, if we’re talking about the death penalty, there is no ending to this case,” Steinhauser said. “It will be several years before trial, and if the death penalty is found, then we’re talking 10, 11 years before there could be an execution – if there is an execution. People have already been so traumatized, and then they’ll have to spend years and years and years going through the system.”

The NRA is in strong opposition to the small arms treaty. Mitt Romney also opposes it. Obama supports a small arms treaty that is not quite as restrictive as that favored by other UN members.

Fear mongers have been filling up the internet with alarming claims that the UN small arms treaty will take away our right to bear arms. That’s all a crock of shit! Our Constitution trumps any treaty that conflicts with the rights guaranteed all citizens in the 10 Amendments.

UN TREATY TO CRACKDOWN ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN SMALL ARMS
Issue has been on UN agenda since 2006 when George Bush ordered a veto

By Emma Reynolds

Mail Online
July 27, 2012

The United Nations is set to introduce a treaty cracking down on the $60 billion global business of illicit trading in small arms.

The move is aimed at curbing violence in some of the most troubled corners of the world, but has unsurprisingly ruffled feathers with pro-gun activists in the US, including those of the National Rifle Association.

They have denounced the treaty as a threat to their constitutional right to bear arms.

'Without apology, the NRA wants no part of any treaty that infringes on the precious right of lawful Americans to keep and bear arms,' NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre told the UN this month.

'Any treaty that includes civilian firearms ownership in its scope will be met with the NRA's greatest force of opposition.'

Fellow critic John Bolton, who was President George W. Bush's ambassador to the UN, wrote that gun-control advocates 'hope to use restrictions on international gun sales to control gun sales at home.'

But what both sides ignore is a well-enshrined legal principle that says no treaty can override the Constitution or US laws, according to the Associated Press.

In fact, a first draft of the treaty circulated in New York this week has been criticized by arms-control activists for containing too many loopholes.

For instance, it does not include a proposed ban on ammunition trade.

Gun activists are standing firm in near-blanket opposition to such a ban, as last Friday's deadly Aurora, Colo., theater shooting rampage heightens interest in the deliberations and raises the stakes.

Barack Obama supports the treaty effort but has not talked about it on the presidential campaign trail.

Equally, presumptive Republican candidate Mitt Romney has not addressed the issue but broadly opposes what he sees as overreach by the UN on many fronts. He told a town hall in Ohio last week that he was 'not willing to give the United Nations sovereignty in any way or form' over US citizens or law.

This week, they clashed long-distance when Mr Obama suggested stiffer gun regulations in a speech to the National Urban League and Mr Romney argued in an NBC interview from London, where he is traveling, that America does not need new gun laws.

The Constitution's Second Amendment offers broad protection for weapons ownership by civilians. As recently as 2008, the Supreme Court affirmed this when it struck down a ban on handguns in the District of Columbia, ruling that individuals have a constitutional right to keep guns for self-defense and other purposes.

The rule that treaty obligations may not infringe on individual constitutional protections and rights goes back at least to a 1920 ruling that a migratory bird treaty with Canada, which prohibited the hunting or capturing of certain birds, was an unconstitutional interference with states' rights under the 10th Amendment.

There are many other court rulings spelling out the limits of treaties.

Gabor Rona, international legal director of Human Rights First, said: 'There is no doubt that the Constitution is superior to any international treaties.'

A proposed treaty to regulate exports and imports of small weapons has been on the UN agenda since 2006, when Mr Bush ordered a veto.

Mr Obama got the process rolling again in 2010. So far, 152 nations have participated in the drafting and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has pledged to push for Senate ratification once there is a final document.

But it may be an empty gesture.

Treaties must be ratified by two-thirds of the 100-member Senate, or 67 votes. With pressure mounting from the gun lobby, led by the politically powerful NRA, a letter opposing such a treaty has already gained the signatures of well over 50 senators.

Another cop, thinking with his dick, bites the dust. El Stupido was videoed by his patrol car’s dash camera.

Wine, women and guns, not necessarily in that order, are often police service career busters.

UNIFORMED COP BUSTED FOR PICKING UP PROSTITUTES WHILE ON DUTY

WESH.com
July 27, 2012

MELBOURNE, Fla. — A Melbourne police officer was fired after he was accused of picking up prostitutes in his police car while in uniform.

Officer Jose Otero chatted amiably with a woman who police identified as a prostitute in surveillance video.

After an investigation by Otero's own department and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, detectives filed seven counts against him.

"This includes operating a conveyance for the purpose of prostitution, purchasing the services of a person for prostitution," Melbourne Police Department spokesman Sheridan Shelley said.

Otero was driving his police cruiser to pick up prostitutes, and he didn't know other officers were watching him from unmarked cars. He also didn't know his own dashboard camera was gathering evidence.

The dashboard camera shots matched up with hand-held surveillance by detectives, showing it was Otero's car that was followed.

The hand-held shots showed shadowy figures near Otero's police car. Police said they interviewed four prostitutes, who admitted they had sex with Otero while he was on the job.

The most stunning evidence of all was video of a woman getting out of Otero's car on the passenger side, while an officer got out, shirtless, on the driver's side and began putting his uniform back on.

Police said the meetings with prostitutes went on at least from February to May of this year.

In Otero's termination letter, the police chief said, "The criminal conduct uncovered during this investigation is extremely disturbing and demonstrates that you lack the proper judgment in your role as a police officer."

Both Otero and his attorney could not be reached for comment. Otero will be criminally prosecuted on seven misdemeanor counts.

A Jewish woman says to her mother, "I'm divorcing Marty! All he wants is sex, sex and more sex. My vagina is now the size of a 50 cent piece when it used to be about the size of a 5 cent piece."

Her mother says, "You're married to a multi-millionaire businessman, you live in an 8 bedroom mansion, you drive a Ferrari, you get $2,000 a week allowance, you take 6 vacations a year and you want to throw all that away........ over 45 cents?"

Saturday, July 28, 2012

International Olympic Committee refuses to memorialize the 11 Israeli Olympians massacred by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympics

Why memorialize the 11 slain Olympians? After all, they were just some damn Jews.

THE RIGHT THING
By Rachel Raskin-Zrihen

politicalmavens.com
July 27, 2012

Three cheers and a big L’Chaim! to NBC sportscaster Bob Costas, who is not taking the IOC’s anti-Semitism lying down.

Despite a growing call worldwide for a moment of silence at the London Olympics later this month in honor of the 11 Israeli victims of the 1972 massacre at the Munich Olympics, the International Olympics Committee has refused to allow it.

Costas reportedly said he plans to publicly “call out” the IOC for its “insensitivity” in denying Israel’s request for one minute of silence at the 40th anniversary of the worst tragedy ever to befall the modern Olympics games – something I’m convinced would have happened automatically were the victims anyone other than Israelis and Jews.

According to reports, Costas “will add his voice to the U.S. Senate, the German Bundestag, the Canadian and Australian parliaments, Italian lawmakers and some 50 members of the British Parliament who are also advocating the moment of silence.”

Costas reportedly said he intends “to note that the IOC denied the request. Many people find that denial more than puzzling but insensitive. Here’s a minute of silence right now.”

Costas reportedly intends to make his remarks when the Israeli delegation enters the Olympic Stadium for the Opening Ceremony.

Good for him.

I’m sure there are millions who will be watching who are not aware of the efforts by Ankie Spritzer, the widow of wrestling coach Andrei Spritzer, and others, to have her husband and his teammates shown the respect at this Olympics they were denied at the games 40 years ago.

Personally, I’m not convinced it wasn’t a flagrant insult that the 1972 Olympics went on as usual after the public executions.

It almost felt as though there was barely a pause as these Jewish bodies were cleared away and things went back to normal, as though some maniacs hadn’t broken into these Jewish men’s living quarters, held them hostage, and shot and killed them because they were Jews.

I’m not sure if the victims had been part of the American team or the Russian, German or any other team, things would have unfolded that way.

And it seems like such a small request – 60 seconds of silence to remember those innocent victims and the rest of us whose innocence was lost to the terrorists’ bullets that day.

What would it cost the Olympics organizers to publicly acknowledge that this event was intentionally targeted for this terrible thing, and that it happened to real people, with lives and families, hopes and dreams, that were stolen by heartless, ruthless, anti-Semitic terrorists?

If they think it would be “politicizing” the Olympics to pay their respects to everything lost to those cold-blooded murderers that day, they’re about 40 years too late. It’s hard to imagine anything more political than what those Palestinian terrorists did, to those innocent men and to the world, which, because of them, may never again really be able to completely believe in anything as noble as what the Olympic Games are supposed to stand for.

Out of 315 compliance checks, LA sheriff’s deputies from the Lancaster station made 182 arrests and seized 13 firearms from non-violent, non-serious offenders released from prisons as part of Gov. Moonbeam’s realignment program.

The recent release of several thousand inmates from the California prison system has resulted in more than 300 ex-prisoners under the partial supervision of L.A. sheriff's deputies in Lancaster, and there have been nearly 200 arrests among this group since October, authorities said Thursday.

The post-release supervision of certain parolees sentenced for nonviolent and non-serious crimes now falls to individual counties. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department created several "parolee compliance teams" to assist the county's Probation Department with monitoring them, according to a written statement by Deputy Michael Rust of the Lancaster Sheriff’s Station.

Since the program began last October, Lancaster deputies working with the parolee compliance team conducted several operations, including 315 compliance checks and 68 address verifications. These operations resulted in 182 arrests and the seizure of 13 firearms, Rust said. Rust added that many belonging to this new class of parolee had been arrested “multiple times” and “all of the arrests were for new crimes or fresh charges."

Rust said the Lancaster Sheriff’s Station’s three specialized crime-fighting units, which include burglary and robbery suppression teams and the parolee compliance team, were keeping up the pressure on criminals. In the first six months of the year, the units have made more than 330 arrests, dismantling nine burglary rings, Rust said.

However, a recent report by the Sheriff’s Department showed that violent crimes, which include murder, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault, increased by 16% in Lancaster during the first six months of this year compared to the same period in 2011. Homicides increased from four murders to eight.

WALMART THIEVES ARRESTED FOR STEALING USED CARDBOARD
A recycling operation allegedly made more than $100,000 from stealing Walmart’s cardboard

By Amy Silverstein

GlobalPost
July 25,2012

It's like the mafia, only they recycle instead of killing people: three men have been charged with running an illegal recycling operation using stolen cardboard, NBC News reported. New Jersey police said that the black-market recyclers would go to Walmart and Sam's Club in search of cardboard. Not new cardboard, but old bundles of used cardboard that were waiting to be picked up by another recycling company. The three suspects allegedly took the old cardboard and recycled it themselves, thus stealing business from the other recycling companies.

The recycling facilities paid $125 per ton, and the suspects had sold enough cardboard since May to make a $100,00 profit, according to NBC.

Stealing someone else's discarded cardboard might not sound like a big a deal, but police are taking the matter seriously. "This group invested a considerable amount of time to create an enterprise with the sole purpose to steal cardboard," Col. Rick Fuentes, the State Police superintendent, told The Star-Ledger.

The three suspects were arrested Tuesday and face charges in New Jersey of theft, conspiracy to commit theft and conspiracy to commit fencing, the Staten Island Advance reported. "With the value of recyclables spiking, there can be no window of opportunity for this organized criminal behavior," Shari C. Hyman, head of the city's Business Integrity Commission, told the paper.

A Mexican (an undocumented Democrat), a Black (a documented Democrat), a Jew, a Muslim and a Redneck were walking together on a beach when the Black stumbled over a bottle in the sand. He picked up the bottle, rubbed the sand off it, and a Genie appeared.

"I can only grant five wishes," the Genie said. "Since there are five of you, you may have a wish apiece." Pointing at the Black, he said, "Since you found the bottle, you may have the first wish."

The Black thought for a moment then said, "I wish for a fleet of ships so that I can gather all my people and take them back to our homeland, Africa ." Poof! It was done! Thousands of ships appeared on the skyline.

The Mexican said, "I weesh for enough Cheby peekups to take all my peoples back to our homeland, May-he-co!" Poof! It was done! Row after row of Chevrolet pickups appeared on the beach.

The Jew said, “I wish for enough airplanes to take all my people to Israel to reclaim the land God gave to his Chosen People.” Poof! The sky was filled with jumbo jets.

The Muslim said, "I wish for a hundred thousand camels to take all of my people away from this horrible country loaded with infidels so we can live in peace in Muslim countries and serve Allah." Poof! It was done! A hundred thousand camels suddenly appeared on the beach.

Turning to the Redneck, the Genie asked, "And what is your wish?"

The Redneck watched as the loaded pickups began moving toward the border, then looked out to sea and watched the loaded ships sailing out into the sunset, then he watched as the jumbo jets headed back into the sky, and then he looked at all of the Muslims getting on top of the camels and riding off.

The Redneck said, "Just give me a Bud Lite. It doesn't get any better than this!"

Friday, July 27, 2012

Puts mouth in motion before putting brain in gear; insults British on showcase electioneering trip

Romney has been criticizing Obama’s foreign policy, accusing the President of alienating our allies, but on his showcase electioneering trip abroad, he does exactly that with our closest ally, the British. What was he thinking? He obviously wasn’t! The British press has been having a field day with Romney’s implosion, The Sun filling up its front page with: Mitt the Twit. And the Obama camp must be rolling in the aisles, laughing itself sick.

Romney is supposed to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympics. If I were him, I’d sneak out the country pronto to avoid the loud chorus of boos he’s sure to get.

MITT THE TWIT
Wannabe US President Romney in Games insult, but David Cameron insists: We’ll show you

By Graeme Wilson

The Sun
July 27, 2012

WANNABE president Mitt Romney infuriated Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday by making a string of embarrassing blunders.

The US election hopeful, on a visit to London, questioned whether the Olympics will be a success.

Mr Romney said in a TV interview: “It’s hard to know just how well it will turn out. There are a few things that were disconcerting.”

The Republican candidate, who organised the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, also questioned whether the British people will “come together and celebrate” the Olympics.

There was further embarrassment when Mr Romney said he had looked out of “the backside of Number 10” to see the beach volleyball court.

He breached diplomatic protocol by revealing he had been briefed by MI6 chief Sir John Sawers, then appeared to forget Labour leader Ed Miliband’s name, calling him “Mr Leader” instead.

Mr Cameron later slapped down the Massachusetts governor. Visiting the Olympic Park on the eve of the opening ceremony, the PM insisted the Games would be a huge success.

He said: “We’ll show the world we’ve not only come together as a United Kingdom, but are extremely good at welcoming people from across the world.

“You will see Britain can deliver.”

In a clear swipe at Mr Romney, he added: “We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities in the world. Of course it’s easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere.”

London organising committee chairman Lord Coe said a staggering THREE MILLION people have turned out to see the torch relay in the capital alone.

He added: “No stone has been left unturned — whether it be the village, the training facilities, the venues.”

London mayor Boris Johnson publicly ridiculed Mr Romney. Addressing the crowd at an Olympic concert in Hyde Park, Mr Johnson said: “There’s a guy called Mitt Romney who wants to know if we’re ready. Are we ready?”

The 60,000-strong audience responded with a deafening cry of “Yes we are!”

ANAHEIM, CA—As protests over a pair of fatal weekend shootings by Anaheim Police entered their fifth day, law enforcement officials continued Thursday to ignore calls for a stricter departmental gun-use policy, claiming such rules would prevent officers from executing their essential task of shooting people.

"Our job is to shoot bullets at dangerous individuals posing a threat to life and property, and we're certainly not going to respond to a request that we stop doing our job," said Anaheim police chief John Welter, who pointed out that all officers are required to carry guns, and that guns are for shooting people. "A policeman who fails to discharge his service revolver on a regular basis is failing to serve his community, pure and simple."

Welter added that anyone who knows anything about the history of law enforcement in Southern California should be well aware of that fact by now.

Alice, ‘The Birthplace of Tejano,’ was once a sleepy South Texas town. No longer so. Alice is now experiencing the same problem with gangbangers that Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Houston and other big cities have been experiencing for years.

MALICE IN ALICE: FOUR DEAD IN ONGOING GANG WAR
By John Nova Lomax

Houston Press Hair Balls
July 25, 2012

Isaac Vela probably never knew what hit him. At 3 a.m. Sunday, the young Latin King was waiting for a ride on a barely paved street in front of a ramshackle house in the scraggly South Texas town. Suddenly a Ford Escape containing five armed men belonging to the rival Raza Unida gang came roaring down the road and opened fire on a car near where Vela was standing. Occupants of the second car returned fire.

A bullet fired at close range tore through Vela's face and skull. He was dead when police arrived, brass casings and plastic shotgun shells from several different guns smoldering in the grass near Vela's body.

Some of the men who fired those bullets met their maker before those shells even had time to cool. The Escape tore around the corner, with the second car in hot pursuit. Unfortunately for its occupants, the Escape did not live up to its name. Its driver failed to negotiate a turn at a T-junction, flattened a fence and smashed into the school attached to the church of St. Joseph, patron of happy death.

When police found the smoldering wreckage of the crumpled Escape, they found the driver, 25-year-old Dagoberto Baiza, dead inside. Next to him was the body of the front-seat passenger, 28-year-old Juan Benavides, a father of three kids aged four and under. Benavides and Baiza both suffered gunshot wounds, but authorities have yet to say if it was the bullets or the crash that killed them. Also unknown: if they were shot before or after the crash.

Thirty-year-old backseat passenger Omar Beltran and the guy sitting next to him -- a 55-year-old apparent O.G. named Daniel Robledo -- were cut free of the SUV via the jaws of life. Beltran succumbed to head trauma hours later. Though his condition was critical, AARP-eligible Robledo was the only survivor. He was also the one guy you think would know better than to be out gangbanging with (and against) kids half or even one-third his age, but once you look at his truly staggering criminal record, you get the idea he's the type who will never learn.

Police also found a .45 caliber pistol and a 9mm in the wreckage.

Days later, Alice police arrested 23-year-old Latin King Andrew Garcia and charged him with murder. He is being held at the Jim Wells County Jail on $1 million bail.

Police chief Daniel Bueno says it's an all-out gang war pitting the Latin Kings versus La Raza Unida (not to be confused with the political party of the same name). Many of the combatants in the town once known as Bandana are related to each other, he told KRIS.

And the trouble has continued into this week. Shots were fired at an empty pickup truck belonging to a gang member yesterday, and police answered yet another shots fired call last night. No arrests have been made in those cases, but police have rounded up several suspected gang members on gun and drug charges.

Nine people have been killed in the town of 19,000 people the first seven months of this year. Unofficial world murder capital Juarez had 3,622 murders in 2011 and a mere 1,976 last year. (An elephant in the room not mentioned in any of the ten or so news reports we read on this mayhem: Might this somehow trace back to the cartels across the Rio Grande?)

At Alice's rate, Houston would have a staggering 5,000 murder victims by the end of the year.

We'll let Nathan Ortiz, the concerned older brother of an Alice gangbanger, have the last word.

"It's because of the dominance," Ortiz told KRIS. "One person thinks he is better or bigger then the other, or badder. But what they don't realize, I guess they haven't figured it out, there is going to be someone bigger and badder. Why are you even trying? Until everybody is dead? That's why they are killing, for peace."

Thursday, July 26, 2012

The Batman movie shooter was receiving a $21,600 stipend in monthly installments of $2,166 from a National Institutes of Health neuroscience education grant for his enrollment in a neuroscience doctorate program at the University of Colorado-Denver Anschutz Medial Campus. Holmes also received a $5,000 stipend from Colorado University.

It has been estimated that Holmes spent $15,000 purchasing a Smith & Wesson M&P15, a Remington 870 shotgun, two .40 cal. Glock pistols, body armor and thousands of rounds of ammo. Since Holmes had no other income, all American tax payers and additionally all Colorado taxpayers (the $5,000 stipend) helped pay for the Batman movie massacre.

By a 14-0 City Council vote, LA follows 178 other California cities and 20 counties that have shut down all pot pharmacies in their jurisdictions

I have published a number of posts on the medical marijuana farce. It looks as though the LA City Council has finally had it with the proliferation of pot shops and the ease in which California’s potheads can get prescriptions to get stoned. 178 California cities and 20 counties had already shut down their pot shops before the LA City Council passed its ban. But this is only a Band-Aid on a festering state sore - thousands of pot pharmacies still remain open.

LOS ANGELES -- A countdown to the closure of hundreds of medical marijuana shops in Los Angeles is set to begin after a drawn-out legal battle led the city council to vote unanimously to shutter the shops - but it may not be over.

After Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa signs the ordinance as expected, pot shops will have 30 days to shut down lucrative operations that blossomed around the nation's second biggest metropolis. On Tuesday, the city council voted 14-0 to ban them.

As many as 900 dispensaries will be affected by the new ordinance, but it's unclear what will happen if they disobey the order. Legal questions remain unanswered by the state's highest court.

The city has fumbled with its medical marijuana laws for years, trying to provide safe and affordable access to the drug for legitimate patients while addressing worries by neighborhood groups that streets were being overrun by dispensaries and pot users.

"Relief is on the way," said Councilman Jose Huizar, who introduced the so-called "gentle ban."

Many cities have struggled with medical marijuana ordinances, but none has had a bigger problem than Los Angeles, where pot shops have proliferated. At one point, the city ordered closure of the shops - a process that failed amid lawsuits and conflicting rulings by appellate courts.

This time around, the city has a stronger case if pot shop owners sue, city officials said. A recent appellate court ruling seems to support the new ordinance that refers to a marijuana collective as three or fewer people.

The ban allows hospices and home health agencies to provide medical pot. Letters will be sent to the dispensaries advising them of the ban.

"A judge could file an injunction but we think that is unlikely," said Jane Usher, a special assistant city attorney.

The ban further adds to confusion for Californians, who in 1996 approved medicinal use of marijuana with a doctor's recommendation. The state Supreme Court has decided to clarify the drug's hazy legal status by addressing whether local governments can ban medical marijuana clinics, but a hearing has yet to be set.

Meanwhile, federal authorities have cracked down on pot clinics around the state, saying such operations remain illegal under U.S. law.

Los Angeles passed an ordinance two years ago that was supposed to shutter hundreds of pot dispensaries while capping the number in operation at 70. But legal challenges from collectives and that ordinance's expiration last month led to another surge of pot shops.

City officials said 762 collectives have registered with the city and as many as 200 more could exist.

"We need to start with a clean slate," Councilman Mitchell Englander said before the vote. "Los Angeles has experimented with marijuana and has failed."

The new ban could be temporary for some dispensaries. A motion made by Councilman Paul Koretz called for city staff to draft an ordinance that would allow about 180 pot shops to reopen after a moratorium was enacted years ago. That motion isn't expected to be considered for several months.

After the vote Tuesday, some medical marijuana advocates shouted expletives, while others questioned where they could get the drug in the future.

"This is an outrage that the city council would think a reasonable solution to the distribution of medical marijuana would be to simply outlaw it altogether," said Don Duncan, California Director with Americans for Safe Access, the country's leading medical marijuana advocacy group.

Duncan said the vote will harm tens of thousands of patients.

At least 178 California cities from Calistoga to Camarillo and 20 counties already have banned retail pot shops, according to the medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access.

Reflecting the murky language of the state's medical marijuana laws, a handful of dispensaries have successfully challenged local prohibitions in court, along with laws that merely sought to regulate dispensaries.

Most recently, an appeals court in Southern California struck down Los Angeles County's 2-year-old ban on dispensaries, ruling that state law allows cooperatives and collectives to grow, store and distribute pot.

But in a separate case, an appeals court said federal law pre-empts local municipalities from allowing pot clinics.

The vote came a day after a priest, drug counselors and others decried crime and other social problems they say surround neighborhood marijuana dispensaries. Among those who spoke was a woman who complained about having to push her baby's stroller through clouds of marijuana smoke near dispensaries in her East Hollywood neighborhood.

Daniel Sosa, a medical marijuana advocate, told council members it's fruitless to approve a ban that won't have any merit, and will likely lead to more lawsuits.

"If you can't enforce it, why are you going to pass something?" Sosa asked the council.

Numerous requests over the years by Israel for the European Union to declare Hezbollah a terrorist organization have fallen on deaf ears. It is obvious that the EU, which is almost totally dependent on the Arabs for oil, is not about to do anything that might antagonize Saudi Arabia and other oil rich Arab countries.

EU REJECTS ISRAELI REQUEST TO BLACKLIST HEZBOLLAH

AFP
July 24, 2012

BRUSSELS -- The European Union turned down a request Tuesday by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman to blacklist Hezbollah as a terror group after last week's deadly bombing in Bulgaria.

"There is no consensus for putting Hezbollah on the list of terrorist organisations," said Cypriot Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency.

Israel blames Iran and the Lebanese group Hezbollah for Wednesday's suicide attack at the Black Sea airport of Burgas in which five Israelis and their Bulgarian driver died.

But an EU decision would require the unanimous approval of all its 27 members.

Sitting beside the Cypriot minister at a news conference held after annual EU-Israel talks, Lieberman said: "The time has come to put Hezbollah on the terrorist list of Europe."

"It would give the right signal to the international community and the Israeli people."

But Kozakou-Marcoullis said Hezbollah was an organisation comprising a party as well as an armed wing and was "active in Lebanese politics".

"Taking into account this and other aspects there is no consensus for putting Hezbollah on the list of terrorist organisations," she said.

The EU would consider this if there were tangible evidence of Hezbollah engaging in acts of terror, she added.

Lieberman said Israel was continuing to compile evidence from the Bulgaria attack and would onpass proof to the EU.

But in Israel, Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told AFP that "for years we have been providing Europe with information on Hezbollah's direct involvement in terror attacks.

"But certain states in the EU have clarified to us that because of political reasons, they prefer to not add Hezbollah to the list, despite them not disputing the evidence."

I can understand why the cops are upset, but file criminal charges against the pranksters? No way Jose! A royal ass-chewing should suffice.

JACKASS-STYLE PRANK BY THREE TEENAGERS IN SUPERMARKET PARKING LOT BACKFIRES AFTER POLICE THOUGHT IT WAS A REAL ABDUCTION
Police issued urgent appeal over incident in parking lot

By Simon Tomlinson

Mail Online
July 25, 2012

A suspected abduction caught on surveillance camera which showed a woman being bundled into the trunk of a car was actually a hoax inspired by the Jackass TV show, police said today.

Detectives in Syracuse, New York, issued an urgent appeal yesterday for information about the 'suspicious incident' in a supermarket parking lot.

The two-minute incident, which they said looked like an abduction, occurred at 10.48pm on Monday at the Price Chopper store on Erie Boulevard East.

In the footage, a dark-coloured car drives at speed into a parking space. A man gets out, opens the rear door, pulls a woman out and puts her in the trunk before driving off.

In his appeal, Detective George C. Hack said the woman appears to be unconscious.

'She is not in control of herself,' Hack said. 'She’s not fighting. She may be intoxicated, she may be drugged.'

One female witness pleaded with the 'kidnapper' to stop, he said. He responded, but police would not reveal what he said.

Police had stopped short of calling it an abduction as they were puzzled why the 'suspect' had chosen a crowded, well-lit car park to carry out the crime. But officers said they couldn't take any chances.

'It's the type of incident that we don't take lightly,' he said. 'We had to check on the welfare of that person.'

After the incident was made public, three teenagers — a 17-year-old male, 16-year-old female and another female described as a juvenile — came forward to confess to the prank at the behest of their families.

Syracuse Police Sgt Tom Connellan described the stunt as 'incredibly stupid' and said it had taken vital resources away from homicide investigations and a string of thefts over that period.

The former Golden State, now the Rusty Iron State, and why I call it Kookfornia. Why would any voter in his or her right mind even give a flying fuck whether porn actors used condoms or not? Only in Kookfornia would you find 372,000 kooks who signed a petition to put that measure on the November ballot.

MANDATORY CONDOM USE ON PORN SET IS ON NOVEMBER 6 BALLOT
By Christina Villacorte

Los Angeles Daily News
July 24, 2012

For the first time ever, voters will be asked to decide whether porn stars should be mandated by law to wear condoms while filming.

The county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted 3-1, with one abstention, to place a measure on the Nov. 6 ballot requiring porn stars to use condoms during the production of adult films in Los Angeles County.

It would also require adult entertainment producers to undergo training on blood-borne pathogens, submit an exposure control plan and obtain a public health permit.

The board's unprecedented move came after officials of the nonprofit AIDS Healthcare Foundation submitted 372,000 petition signatures - far more than required to place a measure on the ballot.

The porn industry, however, threatened to take legal action to block the proposed regulations, arguing that requiring them to use condoms in their movies violates their right to free speech. They also said the multi-billion-dollar industry, based primarily in the San Fernando Valley, would be driven out of the region by the measure.

Diane Duke, executive director of the Free Speech Coalition, a trade association of adult entertainment businesses, said porn stars have a lower risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases than the rest of the population.

"Our population is tested much more frequently than anybody else," she said. "People who are walking around with HIV and don't even know it - you're not going to find that in our industry.”

Duke said a county report showed that of the 6,500 new HIV infections between June 2008 and June 2011, none were contracted from an adult film set.

She added that protocols already in place enabled the industry to quickly identify two porn stars who had contracted HIV off-set, and prevented them from performing again.

Allan Gelbard, a lawyer for the adult film industry, called the ballot measure "an unconstitutional and unwise attempt to fix a nonexistent problem."

He also warned that the proposed regulations may drive the multi-billion dollar industry away from the county. Its hub is the San Fernando Valley.

But Stephen Kaufman, lawyer for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, disputed claims the ballot measure would trample on the First Amendment.

"The focus of this measure is on the health and safety of the performers in that workplace," he said.

Mark McGrath, a public health consultant for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, stressed, "It is unfair that adult film performers should be asked to take their health and life at risk to earn a meager living."

Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky, Michael Antonovich and Don Knabe voted to place the measure on the ballot, while Mark Ridley-Thomas abstained.

Supervisor Gloria Molina cast the lone dissenting vote, expressing concern it would lead to the county taking over responsibilities that properly belong to the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health, better known as Cal/OSHA.

She worried it could open the county to lawsuits from porn stars who contract sexually transmitted diseases while performing at an adult film set with a county public health permit.

"I just don't understand why we're taking away the workplace responsibilities of Cal/OSHA and inheriting all the liability that goes along with it," Molina said.

Kaufman, however, pointed out the board's hands were tied. Under the election code, it had only two choices - to enact the ordinance sought by the petition, or to submit the matter to voters.

The failure to do either would "thwart the will of the (more than) 371,000 voters who signed the petition and the voters of the county who will be presented with this matter for consideration in November."

ATLANTA—As part of its recent efforts to publicly align itself with fundamentalist Christian values, the Chick-fil-A restaurant chain announced today the debut of its new Queer-Hatin' Cordon Bleu sandwich that would be on sale in all of the company's 1,600 restaurants this Wednesday.

In a press conference to reporters, company representatives said the homophobic new sandwich will include the national fast food chain’s trademark fried chicken filet wrapped in a piece of specially-smoked No Homo ham that would be topped with a slice of Swiss cheese and lathered in a creamy new Thousand Island-based Fag Punching sauce.

"The Queer-Hatin' Cordon Bleu is our company's way of showing our firm commitment to strong, Christian family values," said Chick-fil-A spokesman Robert Gary, before adding that the vehemently anti-gay rights sandwich comes served in a combo with waffle fries and a medium soda for just $6.95. "From the very first morsel of this savory meal to the very last bite, customers can envision gays burning in hell with their sodomizing cohorts, and know that our sandwich is on their side.”

"Of course, the young ones will want to finish their meals off right with a No Fudge Packin' Soft Serve Cone," Gary added. "I can't think of a better way to follow up a sandwich this good."

While the release of the Queer-Hatin’ Cordon Bleu has led to anger from pro-gay rights groups, loyal Chick-fil-A customers claim they are happy they can finally enjoy a sandwich that takes a firm stance on the issue of homosexuality.

"Any sandwich that combines that great Chick-fil-A flavor with a hefty dose of vitriolic homophobia is definitely going to keep me coming back for more," said Atlanta customer John Oaks. “Come Wednesday, I’m going to be first in line for this thing.”

According to sources, the Queer-Hatin’ Cordon Bleu is merely the first of Chick-fil-A’s new family values menu which is set to include the AIDS Is God’s Curse chicken nugget combo and the Fags Caused 9/11 strawberry fruit smoothie.

Unless you have something of substance to add to the allegations against Jerry Sandusky or have a fat six figure check you wish to donate to a charity helping the victims of child sexual abuse heal, nobody gives a rat's ass what you think about the removal of your father's statue, the removal of scholarships from Penn State's program, or the removal of dog shit from your front yard.

Perhaps this is why the NCAA didn't seek any "input from [your] family" -- they didn't want it, they didn't need it. Seriously, what color is the sky in your world, Paterno family? I realize that you've gone through virtually your entire lives with the keys to State College in your back pocket, but in the real world, when one of us fucks up, they don't ask our loved ones their opinion on our punishment. There's no consensus building going on. Authority figures mete out punishment, and then you accept it like a man. I realize that you're just now learning what these strange beings called "authority figures" are, since your dad basically ran things in that navy blue cocoon you've all been living in, but to be clear, these authority figures -- THEY establish the rules, THEY enforce the rules. You follow them.

Your dad, Jerry Sandusky, Graham Spanier, Bill Curley, Gary Schultz. They broke the rules. Now, they pay. And they're bringing a whole lot of innocent people with them, too. And yet you're the ones who can't get to a keyboard fast enough to start banging out these ridiculous proclamations every time you feel wronged? Your arrogance is galling.

You lament that your father was never interviewed by the University or the Freeh Group, to which I say, be glad he wasn't. History tells us he would have just lied, more and more lies, and bathed himself in more perjury. It's what he did when he met with the grand jury in 2011. Why would this time have been any different?

I notice, by the way, that you call your dad a "great coach and educator" in this latest chapter of Paterno Family Statements. I seem to remember the wall behind the statue saying "COACH, EDUCATOR, HUMANITARIAN." Thank you for leaving "humanitarian" out of your latest statement. It was that statement's only redeeming quality.

Speaking of which, how about that statue, huh? Quite a scene watching that thing get carted off by those construction workers with a sheet over its head, almost like they were taking Statue JoePa to a secluded area to waterboard him and find out what he really knows about Sandusky. The realism was striking, right down to the statue maintaining its "number one finger" pose. I mean, say what you will about the authenticity of the statue's looks, but to me the statue's having self awareness identical to that of the real Joe Paterno is its defining trait.

I'm hoping they send the statue to jail, perhaps to share a cell with Sandusky. Or Sandusky's rectum.

By the way, how is your investigation into the documentation compiled by Louis Freeh coming along? Are you unearthing any new nuggets of information? Have you found the magic crystal that miraculously exonerates your dad from any culpability in this case? Or the mystical goblet that somehow reverses time back to 1998 (or whenever it was that the old man first learned that Jerry Sandusky took sadistic pleasure in raping young boys) and gives him the clarity to think that perhaps protecting his football program wasn't the end all and be all?

Me, I picture your "investigation" consisting of big, fat Scott Paterno sitting at his mom Sue's kitchen table thumbing through a huge pile of printed emails, getting winded after the first five or six, and then screaming at Sue to bring him some more double chocolate chip cookies and a towel to mop up his pit sweat. And then after like ten minutes, he says "Fuck it," plops down on the couch, and turns on one of the 50 episodes of Man vs Food he has saved on VHS tape.

Your investigation is for shit. Your family statements are for shit.

Oh, and one other thing. Stop calling your father by his first name. It sounds creepy when the sons are calling the dad "Joe" or "Coach" in interviews and social settings. That's fucked up. Stop doing it.

The dog and cat suppliers for Chinese restaurants subject the poor animals to hell on earth and a horrible death

I wish that every fucking person in China who eats dogs or cats chokes to death on his God forsaken meal!

HORRORS OF CHINA’S MEAT TRADE: 500 DOGS STUFFED INTO TRUCK IN APPALLING CONDITIONS BEFORE BEING SERVED UP IN RESTAURANTS
Many had already died due to barbaric treatment and searing heat; activists tried to stop the vehicle, but were beaten back by thugs

Mail Online
July 24, 2012

Stuffed into a lorry so tightly they can barely breathe, these desperate animals are the latest victims of China's sickening trade in dog meat.

More than 20 animal rights activists stopped the vehicle, which was carrying 500 dogs at a service station on the Jingha Highway in an effort to them.

Due to their horrific treatment and the hot weather, a number of the dogs had already died while others were seriously ill.

But despite their best efforts, the campaigners were unable to stop the lorry from leaving after being attacked by a group of thugs.

The dogs were most likely driven to restaurants around the country, where they will be served up to diners.

It is the latest incident where animal campaigners have tried to intervene to save dogs in recent months.

One group was more successful earlier this year when a truck carrying 505 canines packed into just 156 tiny cages, was stopped on Yunnan Province's highway from Fumin to Kunming after other drivers spotted its sickening cargo.

Protesters posted pictures and comments about the load on the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, Weibo, prompting the police to stop the lorry at the next toll gate.

The trade and transportation of animals in China has come in for criticism by campaigners in the West.

Some of the huge markets which sell dogs and cats to restaurants for slaughter and human consumption came under international spotlight several years ago after being the suspected origin of the deadly SARS virus.

In one of the large markets, on a 60-acre site in Guangzhou, China, cages of dogs and cats - some of them bred as domestic pets - are piled high.

When an animal is chosen for sale it is bludgeoned with an iron bar until it is close to death before, being handed over to the purchaser.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

68-year-old fool actually believed glamorous 32-year-old lingerie model, who he met only on the internet, wanted to live with him as his loving mate

As the saying goes, ‘There’s no fool like an old fool.’ Unless this old fart has never set foot outside the cloistered halls of ivy, he should have known that when a stranger gives him a suitcase to deliver elsewhere, it would be packed with illegal drugs. This leads me to pen a new saying: There’s no idiot like an educated idiot.

‘I THOUGHT I WAS EMAILING MISS BIKINI WORLD 2007:’ UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PHYSICS PROFESSOR IN ARGENINE JAIL ON DRUG SMUGGLING CHARGES CLAIMS HE WAS VICTIM OF MAFIA HONEYTRAP
Oxford graduate claims he was set up in honeytrap sting and named Czech-born glamor model Denise Milani as the woman he was in touch with

Mail Online
July 23, 2012

A distinguished British scientist languishing in an Argentine jail on suspicion of drug smuggling has spoken for the first time about his ordeal.

Oxford University graduate Paul Frampton has been held in prison since January after being stopped at an airport in Buenos Aires as he tried to board a plane to Peru with two kilos of cocaine in his suitcase.

He claimed afterwards he was the victim of a honey-trap sting involving an internet model.

Last night he named the beauty - a 32-year-old Czech-born glamour model now based in the U.S - for the first time as he spoke about his fears he may die in jail if convicted.

Mr Frampton said he thought he was swapping messages on a dating site with stunning Denise Milani - but now believes members of a South American mafia tricked him into carrying a suitcase carrying drugs by posing as the underwear model.

There is no suggestion the model had any involvement in the drugs smuggling plot - or knew a mafia was allegedly using her identity for honey-trap stings.

Last night influential friends in the scientific community continued to fight for his release on bail as he faced the prospect of a 16-year-jail sentence, if convicted.

Extraordinary details of the events leading up to his arrest emerged - including a 10 day stay in Bolivia waiting for Miss Milani to join him for the start of a new life together before his fateful trip to Argentina.

Worcestershire-born Mr Frampton, 68, awarded a BA degree with Double First Class Honours at Oxford, said: 'Perhaps I should have realized earlier but the fraudster was very good and very intelligent.

'I never thought these sorts of people existed. For 11 weeks I thought I was chatting with an attractive woman.'

Divorced Mr Frampton was arrested on January 23 at Ezieza International Airport, moments before he boarded a plane to Peru for a second flight to the U.S where he is now teaches.

The drugs were found wrapped in gift paper inside the lining of the suitcase.

Mr Frampton claims he was given the suitcase at a hotel in Buenos Aires by a Hispanic-looking middle-aged man who told him it belonged to the model.

The scientist flew to Argentina after a 10-day stay in Bolivia where he thought he was going to meet Miss Milani, born Denise Trlica and best known for her natural 32DD chest which helped her become 2007 'Miss Bikini World' and a favorite with readers of mens' magazines Maxim and FHM.

He told an Argentine newspaper he planned to take the suitcase to Brussels in Belgium for a new meeting with his internet girlfriend.

However, he was persuaded by a friend to book a flight back to his home in America and forget Miss Milani.

Investigators are said to have carried out psychological tests on Mr Frampton to rule out mental illness.

Mr Frampton, who is suffering from lung problems following his enforced stay in prison, admitted last night he may be suffering from a mental disorder brought on by his obsession with psychics.

The scientist's ex-wife has described him as being very 'naive' emotionally.

He told respected Argentine newspaper Clarin from his prison cell: 'The person I thought was this woman told me she liked older men and was tired of doing photo sessions.

'I fell for the story. Before my arrest on January 23 I was convinced I was chatting with a "her" and after a couple of weeks in prison, I realized it was a man, a criminal posing as this model.

'"She" asked me if I could be proud of someone like "her". It was quite convincing.

'I found out I wasn't going to meet her in Bolivia as planned the day I got there.

'I should have returned to the States right then. But I always complete my plans, the same way I complete my physics papers. She was my project.'

He added: 'It didn't seem strange to me at the time that this person invited me to meet up with her in Bolivia.

'The idea was to go there and return with her a couple of days later to the place where I live.'

Mr Frampton, who studied at Brasenose College, one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, is being held at Villa Devoto Prison in Buenos Aires.

The jail was the scene of some of the worst prison riots in Argentine history in 1978 which left 62 people dead.

Leading academics including 1979 Physics Nobel Prize winner Sheldon Glashow - who Mr Frampton has written more than a dozen scientific articles with - have written to the investigating judge in charge of his case to plead his innocence.

Several have also written a letter to Argentine president Cristina Kirchner asking her to intervene.

Mr Frampton, from Kidderminster in Worcestershire, was teaching at the University of North Carolina when he was arrested and his pay was suspended

Rape victim committed the unspeakable act of defying a court order by outing the identity of her attackers who only got a slap on the wrist

According to news reports, the victim was sexually assaulted by two juvenile boys she knew in August 2011. She had been drinking at a gathering and passed out. Months later she learned that the boys took pictures of the rape and had shared them with their friends.

To add insult to injury, the defense and prosecution worked out a plea bargain without the knowledge or consent of the victim and her parents. They are outraged because they believe her rapists will only get a slap on the wrist.

KENTUCKY TEENAGER COULD FACE JAILTIME FOR TWEETS OUTING BOYS WHO SEXUALLY ASSAULTED HER
Seventeen-year-old Savannah Dietrich tweeted names of two juvenile offenders, and was charged with contempt

By Faine Greenwood

globalpost
July 21, 2012

A Kentucky teenager faces contempt court charges for Tweeting the names of the two teens who pled guilty to sexually assaulting her, reported the Louisville Courier Journal today, in a case that inspires questions about the uses of social media in the legal system.

Seventeen-year-old Savanna Dietrich, tweeted the names of the boys in response to the frustration she felt over her attackers plea bargain. Now, Dietrich could face an $500 dollar fine and up to $180 days in jail for the act if she is found guilty of being in contempt of the court.

Her contempt hearing is scheduled for July 30th.

According to Dietrich, the sexual assault occurred when she passed out at a party last year. Her attackers then molested her, and they also allegedly videotaped the incident and shared it with their friends online.

After Dietrich visited Louisville, Kentucky police with her parents, the juvenile defendants were charged with first-degree sexual abuse and misdemeanor voyeurism, reports the Courier Journal.

But Dietrich says she was extremely unhappy with the "slap on the wrist" plea bargain her attackers were given. Enraged, she took to her Twitter account, says the Courier Journal, determined to publicly expose the boys for their act.

“They said I can’t talk about it or I’ll be locked up,” one of her Tweets read. "So I’m waiting for them to read this and lock me up. ____ justice.

“Protect rapist is more important than getting justice for the victim in Louisville.”

She reiterated in a Courier Journal interview that she was fully prepared to pay the price for her actions.

“I’m at the point, that if I have to go to jail for my rights, I will do it,” Dietrich told the Louisville paper. “If they really feel it’s necessary to throw me in jail for talking about what happened to me ... as opposed to throwing these boys in jail for what they did to me, then I don’t understand justice.”

The courtroom repercussions of Twitter use have made the news before: in April, a New York judge ruled that prosecutors do not need to obtain a warrant to subpoena citizens Twitter accounts, reported Mashable.com.

Only 46.9% of NYC public school students passed English proficiency test despite multibillion dollar school budget

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is leading the charge for strict nationwide gun controls, brags that the number of NYC’s public school students who passed the state’s English proficiency tests increased from 43.9 percent to 46.9 percent. Perhaps, instead of crusading for gun controls, the mayor ought to turn his attention to fixing his broken school system, a system in which only 46.9 percent of the students can pass an English proficiency test.

FAILING UP
By Marilyn Penn

politicalmavens.com
July 23, 2012

In its loftiest Orwellian doublespeak, the Wall Street Journal of July 18th informs us that the number of New York Students who scored proficiency level on state-wide standardized English tests has jumped from 52.8% to 55%. In New York City, the number of students who achieved proficiency in English has leaped from 43.9% to 46.9%. In other words, the news that only slightly more than half the 436,000 students taking the test throughout the state passed it, and that the majority of students taking the test in NYC flunked it - is headlined in the WSJ as “Student Test Scores Jump in New York.” These students would have to be olympic pole vaulters to make this “jump” anything but shocking, shameful and totally discouraging. If the staggering sum of 18.82 billion dollars that gets funneled into the Department of Education’s annual budget can’t bring most students to a passing grade, why do we continue to fund it? Though a better headline might be “New York City Jumps Ship As It Closes Rotting Dept of Education,” Mayor Bloomberg congratulated Chancellor Denis Walcott with the salvo of “a wonderful accomplishment,” a line that would surely have elicited a smile from that great, dead satirist, Jonathan Swift.

In behavior consistent with the parody of educational achievement, the parents and educators are disturbed less by the failure of the students to perform than with the growing length of the exam and the fact that these scores will be used as a significant part of teacher evaluations. Judging by these scores, what needs to be radically lengthened is the number of hours and days that students attend school and the number of hours and days that educators and administrators should spend revising whatever pedagogical approach has led us to this disaster - without being paid overtime. There are no real surprises here. Students are failing upwards as they continue to be promoted regardless of their capacity to work at grade level. English as a Second Language has been nothing more than a holding cell for students, preventing them from being immersed in a language which they might learn within six months, as foreign students have proven in Israel utilizing the ulpan method of learning Hebrew and as our immigrant forbears managed to do when they came to NYC at the beginning of the last century. In those days, progress was measured not by the increasing numbers of translators available for every immigrant child to understand the test material in his/her native language but by the ability of foreign and native students to comprehend, speak and write just one language - English.

Until we return to that primal function of the elementary and middle school system, most of the activity that takes place inside the classroom is a sham. Students have no chance of success in school or society without mastering English - their ability to succeed in every other subject is dependent upon that pre-requisite. While the mayor continues to dissemble about the great job that the Chancellor and Department of Education are doing, I propose that to go along with this charade, we make one small change in nomenclature so that from now on, the Department of Education will more accurately be titled the Department of Day Care. Its efficacy should be measured strictly by attendance and not by the expensive pretense of testing for academic progress under its auspices. To return to the jumping metaphor, if you needed to save your life by jumping across a chasm, would you feel confident about your odds knowing that 46.9% of jumpers previously made it across?

Monday, July 23, 2012

“It does make me wonder, you know, with all those people in the theater, was there nobody that was carrying? That could have stopped this guy more quickly? I mean, in Tyler, Texas, we had, in my hometown, we had a shooter come in over a domestic matter and just start shooting people, and it was a guy with a concealed carry. He got killed, but his shooting at this guy caused him to run and no doubt saved a lot of lives. He was a real hero.”

Those were the words Rep. Louie Gohmert uttered during an interview about the Batman movie shooting in Colorado. Screwy Louie was being interviewed Friday on the Heritage Foundation’s “Istook Live” program when he made a fool of himself by putting his mouth in motion before putting his brain in gear.

Screwy Louie reminds me of the idiots who to this day argue for the right to bear arms by claiming that had the Japanese invaded our West Coast after Pearl Harbor, a citizenry armed with rifles, shotguns and handguns could have stopped the heavily armed invaders.

Let’s get real! An armed theater patron or two could not have stopped a nutcase wearing body armor and a ballistic helmet in a crowded dark theater with hundreds of panic-stricken patrons running and crawling around in all directions while under fire from a semi-automatic AR-15. To think otherwise, you’d have to be under the influence of some funny tobacco.

Police critic implies lawbreakers should not be incarcerated for the sake of their children

Scott Henson who blogs as Grits for Breakfast, accuses the Austin, Texas Police Department of making drug busts their ‘priority’ instead of focusing on crimes that citizens are really concerned about. Henson, a prominent civil rights activist and frequent critic of the police, says that the children of jailed drug violators and other prison inmates are likely to become criminals themselves because daddy is serving time for breaking the law, thereby implying that we should not incarcerate criminals for the sake of their children.

I seriously doubt that the Austin PD is more concerned about drug violations than about the burglaries, robberies, rapes, murders, etc. that are being committed in the ‘San Francisco of Texas.’ It’s not the fault of the police that drug violations are rampant in the state’s most liberal city.

Of course, being the far-leftie that he is, Henson’s main beef is that the drug arrests impact mostly young blacks who, according to him are dealing drugs because they have no other means of earning a decent income.

Grits for Breakfast attracts a very large number of cop-haters who come out with a barrage of comments whenever Henson criticizes the police, which is quite often. So, it was refreshing to see one 'Anonymous' reader take Henson on over his blame the cops for turning the children of imprisoned lawbreakers into criminals.

Here is what Anonymous said:

I do not understand how it has become culturally acceptable to so blatantly break the laws of this country. A portion of every dollar spent by a citizen on drugs goes to support the violence in our cities, in Mexico and around the globe. To try and make a case that the Austin Police or anyone else should stop attempting to enforce the law is absurd.

You should be providing mirrors for the violators. Tell them if they want to know why their children will be left in a world where they will most likely be criminals themselves, the reason can be fould by looking in the mirror. It is not APD or the DA or some socialite sitting at Brunch in the Capital. The reason for the proverty, the hopelessness can be seen in each and everyone of the mirrors you provide these BIG BOYS to look at.

Take yourself down to Beeville, Go to the Garcia Units [of the Texas prison system] and sit in the visitation room. Watch the wives and girlfriends bring "Daddy's Little Man" and Daughters to see him. Watch them try to talk to the person on the other side of the glass. Then get up and walk with them outside. Where do they go? Big man daddy who is a "VICTIM?" of the drug wars goes back to his bunk, while the moms and kids go back to a deadend life. Tell them to look in the mirror, there is the responsible person.......Law enforcement is NOT the problem. The Problem is the SOB in the mirror!